Caffeinated Clint – Special Edition

If the past couple of years has been any kind of indication sequels just seem to be getting worse. From the atrocious “X-Men: The Last Stand” to the chunder-worthy “Be Cool” and the bloated “Bad Boys” sequel, there’s plenty of proof in the puddin’ that Hollywood doesn’t much care about doing ‘decent’ follow-ups anymore – not when they know they’ll generate a bucket load of receipts anyway.

Back in the 80s and early 90s sequels were still half-decent…. most of them anyway. Sure, there was the odd dud (“Jewel of the Nile”, “A Nightmare on Elm Street 2”, “Short Circuit 2”, “Highlander II : The Quickening” – – to name but a couple) but as a rule, a lot more effort seemed to go into sequels then, than they do now. Some, like “Lethal Weapon 2”, “Terminator 2”, “Back to the Future III”, “Star Trek II : The Wrath of Kahn”, “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade”, “The Empire Strikes Back” and “Batman Returns” even had punters declaring the sequel better than the well-received original.

Remember how excited this trailer got us?

or this…

They delivered too.

We never did see sequels to films like “The Breakfast Club”, “The Goonies”, “Top Gun”, “The Lost Boys” or “Down and Out in Beverly Hills”, because back then, there was usually someone smart enough to know better (most were anyway, there were the nuts that commissioned “Another Stakeout”, “Predator 2”, “Jaws IV: The Revenge” and “Honey We Blew Up the Kid”). If the lead actor/s from the first film weren’t going to return, if the script wasn’t up to scratch…. If there weren’t a reason for doing it… then usually – I stress ‘usually’ – they’d skip the idea. These days – what with the direct to DVD trend and all – they’d just do it anyway; who cares if Don Swayze has replaced Tom Cruise? Who cares if there’s no script but merely a series of dot point guidelines on toilet tissue to follow? Who cares if the die-hard fans of the original are going to hate the sequel?

I still can’t believe they did a sequel to “The Blues Brothers”. That fucking “Blues Brothers 2000″ haunts me still.
I can’t fathom why anyone would greenlight that bitch.

Here’s a reminder…

Bottom line: Sequels – even bad ones – sell. They make money. Shit loads of it. And that’s why we’re starting to see a whole bunch of disappointing sequels and so on. If studios already project the high returns on the film they’re not going to go to any extra special effort to make sure they’re actually good; that would just be… a waste of time, wouldn’t it?. There’s a reason films like “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest”, “Shrek the Third”, “Terminator 3”, “The Matrix Reloaded”, “Spider-Man 3” and “Blade Trinity” weren’t half-as-good as their predecessors…. And that’s because by-and-large it was the person with the least appreciation for the audience, with the thinnest creative root growing through their body, that was probably calling the shots on the movie (Usually the studio accountant).

We’re about to be inundated with a whole bunch of sequels over the next couple of years…. “John Rambo”, “Live Free or Die Hard”, “The Lost Boys II : The Tribe”, “Indiana Jones and the City of Gods” (a.k.a “Indiana Jones 4”), “Point Break II”, “The Fantastic Four : Rise of the Silver Surfer”, …. But the verdict’s still out on whether they will actually be…. Any good? I hope so, I really do. (And why is it that the films you wish they’d do sequels for, films like “16 Candles”, “Grosse Pointe Blank” and “Ghostbusters” (that would be ‘3’), are untouched?).

Last week, I put out a call for readers of the column to tell me what they believe is the worst sequel ever made. The plan, after receiving all the entries, was to tally them all up and see what the worst ‘20’ sequels/prequels – as voted by YOU – are. Some really interesting responses came in.

Me, I’m a sucker for sequels, but I’m also their biggest critic. There’s a few that I absolutely love – “Lethal Weapon 2”, the “Indiana Jones” sequels, the “Back to the Future” sequels, “Empire Strikes Back” et al – but there’s a bigger bunch of sequels that I loathe. Naturally, being a huge “Star Wars” fan, I was really disappointed with the “Star Wars” prequels – they just didn’t encompass the magic of the first couple of films. I also thought the sequels to “Highlander” were pretty tragic. “Basic Instinct 2” was laughably bad. I think it’s hurt the most though when they do over-ambitious epic sequels to films that were wonderful because they were anything well, but…. over ambitious and epic. I’m referring of course to the woeful “Pirates” sequels and those mind-numbing “Matrix” follow-ups. And, of course, I could go on – “Beverly Hills Cop III”, “Mortal Kombat : Annihilation”, “Caddyshack II”, “Mannequin 2 : on the Move”, “X-Men 3”, “Star Trek V : The Final Frontier”, “Batman and Robin”, “The Hidden II”, “The Howling II”, “The Hitcher II” et al – but I won’t, I’ll leave that up to you guys.

Before we count down the TOP 20 WORST SEQUELS OF ALL TIME, as voted by you, lets hear from some of you……

“There are many deserving of this vote, but recently I watched all of the Porky’s and yep, THE NEXT DAY was really bad” – Jmh2605.

“Jaws the Revenge gets my vote as the worst sequel ever made. And also one of the worst films ever made!” – Adam Dallas.

“Hands down, is a little ditty called “Beyond the Poseidon Adventure.” Next up would be Goulies 2, followed by Witch-board 2” – Joseph

“One of the worst sequels to a movies ever – and completely unnecessary, of course – is Highlander 2: The Quickening. First film was awesome and has held up well over time. The Director’s Cut makes it even better. But the long-awaited sequel was total and absolute crap from top to bottom. Period. No redeeming qualities at all. None. Other sequels would follow, as well as a TV series or two, but nothing topped the first film. Should have stopped there. Freakin’ indiots!!” – DFMalone

“Without a doubt Highlander II is the worst sequel of all time. No sequel has ever gone to this extreme in rewriting some of the core foundations of its own universe. I could get over the whole “There can be only one. Until the sequel where there can actually be several again.” thing, but the rest of the movie is a complete abortion of humananity’s ability to reason. Ignoring the mind-raping “ozone-shield in the future” plot, did they seriously expect the audience to buy that all of a sudden the main characters are aliens? Or that all it takes to resurrect someone is to say their name? I don’t even want to try and imagine the sordid photos the producers must have blackmailed Sean Connery with to get him back. Sorry I went on there for a bit, but this is a topic I feel very strongly about. Just be glad I didn’t end up going with Star Trek: Nemesis, its bad points might not be as major as those in Highlander II, but it has 7 times as many of them.” – James

“God there are so many. May I list the three worst I’ve seen in order of preference? Yes? Thanks.
3. Hannibal. Silence of the Lambs 2. “Uhm, hey, that guy wrote a sequel. It’s really bad but let’s make a movie of it anyway. Man it’s really bad writing and a bad story…I know; we’ll hire first rate talent to make it but keep it bad like in the novel. Character drive is overrated anyways. We’ll just amp up the violence, that always wins ’em over.”
2. Species II. Do bad sequels of bad movies still count? “We know nothing about genetically engineering alien life forms but lets make her again and this time she’ll be the good thing” Say the film makers, “Let’s do an alien sex scene…yeah!”
1. Staying Alive (Saturday Night Fever 2) This is definitely in the should have never been made bin. After all Saturday Night Fever was only by accident a good movie and a hit. It was all star alignment. The beginning of the zenith of the disco genre and the casting of Travolta when he was a new breakout star on the rise. No one involved in this seemed to understand that about the first one.” – rlculpepper

“THE EXORSIST 2: THE HERETIC: I do admire a sequel that doesn’t mimic its forefather but this one strayed way too far from its source and the result was an incoherent mess. Silly mind melding devices, a ridiculous giant flying grasshopper demon, grating esoteric inclined dialogue and a snore-inspiring narrative; watching Exorcist 2 was akin to Paris Hilton in the sack: flat, pretentious, lazy and painfully redundant i.e. a dead lay” – John Fallon/Arrowinthehead.com

“Alien 3 is the worst. It may be a fine stand alone movie but what it did to the Alien franchise makes it the worse. Alien 1 and 2 were awesome and Alien 3 basically killed everyone off and started over.” – Danco

“If the question is which sequel was the worst movie, I’d say Batman and Robin. However, if you base your answer on the expectations from the previous movie and the drop off between films it would be Pirates 2 or Phantom Menace.” – Shane

“Aliens 3. Hands down.” – Rob Kerchner, writer “War Games 2”.

“These babies should appear at the top of you list Highlander 2, Highlander 3. (Highlander 4 was actually ok, I guess… kind of. Anyway, not one of the worst ones) And some extra ones, for added measure: Warlock 2, Warlock 3 (the one with Bruce Payne instead of Julian Sands) Robocop 3 (robot ninja?! Yeah, good one.)” – Michael

“Big fan of yours. Appreciate your dedication to films. One day I would love to read your opinion about the Highlander Franchise. I loved the original, disliked the sequels, and I consider the TV show as a part of TV GOLD.
Terrible sequels:
Highlander 2 : The Quickening
American Ninja 3
Batman and Robin
Superman 3 and 4
9 1/2 weeks 2
Jason X
Die Another Day
Ps I don’t consider Escape from LA as a bad sequel. I found it a worthy sequel. Yes, it had cheesy bits in it but Russell nailed Plissken to the bone. The film’s fault was that it was released 16 years after the Escape from New York. If this film had been made in the late 80s it would’ve been received better. “ – Dave

“Batman and Robin. Hands down worst sequel ever.” – Alfred

“That’s a good list you have there, but without a doubt I’m going for The Crow 2: City of Angels. Never before have I seen such a fantastic and emotional original, completely destroyed by such a terrible sequel. Everything that made the first film was ruined the second time around, the setting, the acting, you name it, it sucked. And to tarnish such a classic by the late Brandon Lee was nothing more than an insult in my opinion. Thankfully I never saw the 3rd otherwise I may well have voted for that.” – Col

“The Phantom Menace. Instead of coming up with characters that would draw you into a story, Lucas came up with ones that reminded you to stay where you are…In fact, the characters would remain this dull until Revenge of the Sith, when they suddenly showed signs of life – too little too late!” – Aaron

“I think I usually expect a sequel to be a bit of a disappointment so I automatically lower my expectations. My first big opportunity was starring in a sequel where the film makers immediately dealt with the disappointment of a new guy playing the title role by making it a running joke throughout the movie. Brilliant! I think the biggest surprise I got with a sequel was Terminator 2 which I felt reached way beyond it’s groundbreaking namesake.
However, my biggest disappointment with sequels would have to be STAR WARS I. It’s hard to explain the magic of the original trilogy of Star Wars. When it first graced movie screens back in 1977, it was full of effects that audiences had never seen before and filled out with the new THX Surround Sound that had an amazing psychological effect of putting you in the movie with the characters. So when Lucas birthed his second trilogy in digital magnificence, my anticipation was at an all time high. The story was necessarily more expositional to set up the next 8 episodes but more importantly I found that the new digital technology, even in the hands of a master like George Lucas, had to make great strides yet before it would be the exciting panacea that it promised to be. That said, I’m still looking forward to episodes VII, VIII, and IX (ha ha) to see what evolves from the greatest modern myth and one of the greatest storytellers of our time.” – Christopher Showerman, star of “George of the Jungle 2”

“Mark me down for: Caddyshack II” – Jim

“X-Men: The Last Stand. It’s hard to pass up The Godfather Part III, but I can watch parts I and II and pretend that III doesn’t exist. You can’t do that with X-Men though. The story needs the conclusion in the third film to be whole. The story was set up perfectly in the first two X-Men films, and not a single aspect is executed properly in the third.” – Robb

“After two days of thought I have decided to cast my vote for EXORCIST II: THE HERETIC as my Worst Sequel of All Time. You have to take into account that this was the sequel to one of the biggest box-office smashes of all time and a terrific movie to boot. THE EXORCIST was a landmark of 1970s cinema and I can still recall the hype and hysteria that accompanied the movie’s release in late 1973 and how it played well into 1974.
The fact that EXORCIST author, producer and Academy Award winning screenwriter William Peter Blatty refused to become involved in the project as well as the refusal of Ellen Burstyn, Jason Miller and director William Friedkin. OK Linda Blair returned as did Max Von Sydow and Kitty Wynn but this sequel ruined Blair’s chances of an A-lis career…Von Sydow survived but what happened to Wynn? This sequel was also unintentionally hilarious….you cannot keep yourself from laughing when Richard Burton speaks the name of the demon “Pasuzu”! A sorry sequel of there ever was one!” – Jack

“Alien 3 – Should of never been made. How the hell would an alien egg get aboard the Suluco when the queen detached her egg sac before chasing Ripley and Newt. Shitty direction. Did the writer even watch the first two freakin movies??? Plus CGI doesn’t cut it..it all looked fake. Alien Resurrection – Should of kept Ripley dead. Start with something new and refreshing. Special effects were garbage. Aliens VS Predator – Another hollywood blunder. If you ever get a chance, read the book series put out by darkhorse. 100 times better and nothing to do with shit on earth. This was another Hollywood piece of shit. WTF PG-13!?! The Predators looked like linebackers and the queen alien was as big as Godzilla. God, hollywood is CLUELESS! Terminator 3 – Garbage, should of left it with 2. Bad direction, bad acting, bad everything. Halloween 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, Jesus who knows how many. I had no idea what that tattoo thing was on his wrist in one movie with some hillbilly black dude chasing him. Made me want to hit my TV. I won’t even talk about Halloween 3 with the bug and mask shit. Crow movies after 1. Should have been called Crap 2 Wicked Prayer and the others are not even worth mentioning. Especially the one with Edward Furlong, punk ass drug head. Matrix 2 and 3. I mean come on. The first one set it up, but the others failed to deliver. First it was about robots taking over and using us for batteries, then it jumped into some other shit that made no sense. We don’t need this crap. Stick with the story. Big deal, they jump in the air in slow-mo and dodge bullets…how many fight scenes could they possibly throw into the piece of shit sequels about…who the fuck knows about what. What was with The Kentucky Fried Chicken dude? Another waste.” – Brian

“HEY BRO, huge fan of your site. Of the wost sequel that’s comes to mind is SPEED 2… LOL what a waste of $ to the movie goer and the movie maker” – Mike

“I would have to say that the worst sequel ever made has to go to The Exorcist 2: The Heretic. After making such a classic with the first one, how can things go so bad so fast? This movie is a flaming piece of crap and should have never seen the light of day.” – Ron

“The worst of the worst when it comes to films cashing in on already bad movies, has to be Spiderman 3. It was seemingly so quickly thrown together. Each of the actors seemed to be just collecting a pay check, I mean when you look at other comic films it seems that most of the actors are enjoying the chance to play a hero little kids look up too. The first two spider flicks caught that, this one…it seems each of the characters just wanted to collect their pay and go home. It was like each main character was looking at the camera and read their lines. They then went right back to the trailer so that they could go home. That is what I got from the film. Pirates 3 was great though.” – Joseph

“What a magical film the first Highlander was, left a lot to the imagination, cool cast, decent visuals, and a nifty story line that had some fantasy elements that did not need to be explained away. Then they made part II, that was awful!!!! No need to say why, just AWFUL!! Just my 2 cents.” – Shawn

“The worst sequel of all time would have to be Highlander 2. My god way to ruin are great movie by explaining it all away with “the immortals are aliens” in the words of the comic book guy “worst plot device ever” – Matthew

“The worst sequel of all time is “Blues Brothers 2000″. This movie would have been slightly better if they dug up John Belushi and had someone throw their voice. Contest over ! Thanks and keep up the good work, I check out your site every day.” – Shane

“Two worst sequels of all time that I can think of is Friday the 13th Part 5: A New Beginning, and I’ll Always Know What You Did Last Summer.” – Jordan

“At last, a platform to vent my frustration. ROBOCOP 2 (aka- Robocop Blue) is the worst sequel ever made. period! Many cite Robocop 3 as the worst, but there is not a great step down in quality between parts 2 and 3.
Verhoeven’s original is an absolute masterpiece and never have a I seen so much potential for a character driven franchise. Part 2 does very little to add to the mythology, in fact, if anything it strips it! It is riddled with hideous miscasting and Leonard Rosenman’s score drops the fantastic Polidouris themes in favour of a bizarre choir chanting robocoooooooop’…..unbelievable!!!! Given that it’s from the director of one of the greatest sequels ever made (Kershner/Empire Strikes Back) and the gritty/cynical mind of Frank Miller, the end result is appalling. Naturally this is just the tip of the ice- berg, this movies problems are endless…..and why oh why did they change his body colour!!!???
Oh, god, someone wipe this movie from our minds and start again.
FYI_ I met Paul Verhoeven at Cannes Film festival 2004. He was an amazing chap and so happy to chat with me. I asked him about his talk of re-making a Robocop sequel (kinda like Singer’s Superman Returns, I’d read about him re-doing a sequel with Ed Numeier back in 2003) anyhoo, he said he’d been kicking the idea around for years, but was pretty sure it wouldn’t get off the ground….Good time to get an internet petition going?
Many thanks letting me get this off my chest.” – Christian

“Hi there,
Love your work!
It’s in a tight race with the Phantom menace but without doubt in my mind “Highlander 2″ was not only the worst sequel ever made but one of the biggest disappointments.
Everyone told me how bad it was before I saw it, I said, “Highlander was so good, how could they screw it up?”. Lambert said they starting shooting in Argentina without a finished script. Boy did it show.” – Matt

“The Number One worst sequel of all time is Caddyshack 2. It was beyond awful…..almost cringing awful…….
Oceans 12 was awful……..Julia Roberts Character actually looking like Julia Roberts the actess………Jimmity Christmas………..
Alien 3, Matrix 2 + 3, Spidy 3, Stars Wars episodes 1 + 2, Conan 2, Be Cool were all fun movies but just crap compared to early outings……………” – Blu

“Caddyshack 2….hands down horrible. I can stomach most sequels, but that one left a bad taste in my mouth, bad enough to even dampen my enjoyment of the first one……Peeeeeeeeeeeeeeewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww what a stinker.” – Ryan

“Hello there Clint.
It was a difficult decision but my vote for the worst movie sequel (and there are a lot of them) Is Batman and Robin. The nipples on the Batsuit, the screenplay, acting, Joel Schumacher(enough said there) everything was awful. This film shouldn’t have been made period.” – Trevor

“Hi Clint, When it comes to the worst sequel of all time there can be only one: Highlander II: The Quickening. The first film may not be a five-star classic, but it’s a fun romp with the cool premise of mysterious immortals in deadly competition for an ultimate prize that will be gifted to the last immortal standing. Highlander II takes a crap that could have been produced by L. Ron Hubbard himself all over that original premise by turning the immortals into aliens, perfunctorily resurrecting a dead character, and rather strangely turning the protagonist, Connor McLeod, into the leader of a team of scientists trying to fix the ozone layer. Excuse me while I barf. Best regards, Ryan Weston” – Ryan

“Phantom Menace, hands down” – actor Adam Scott, of “Knocked Up”.

“My vote would go towards Jurassic Park III. A few reasons: 1, The silly Spinosaur KILLS the T-rex. Something that retardedly unbalanced hasn’t happened since the Queen Alien was killed by the Newborn in Alien Resurrection. 2, The little boy stuck on the island for weeks, somehow surviving against all odds, like some second rate Newt from Aliens, collecting dinosaur piss and whatnot (trend?). 3, The marines show up at the end to rescue the survivors, which could have built up to a fantastic redeeming confrontation with some dinosaurs, but NOoooOOOo. They just show up and leave quietly. Runner-up being Alien Resurrection, for the reason stated above.” – Steven

“ANOTHER STAKEOUT… missed all the jeopardy and wit of the original and suffered from having a villain with no threat (Aidan Quinn is real physical threat in the first one)… so many movies are only as good as the villains that drive the story… RING 2 – missed any of the intelligence of the original… characters doing things they would never have done in the first one… I can remember the first in vivid detail… all I can remember of the second a feeling of great disappointment….” – Patrick Lussier, director “White Noise : The Light”

“Clint- I bumped into Jonathan Silverman in an elevator coming down from a nightclub. As a joke, I said loudly to my buddy, “You know what the best movie ever made is? Weekend at Bernie’s!” Silverman laughed and replied “You didn’t see the sequel.” Unfortunatly, I had. Really the worst sequel, if not one of the worst movies, PERIOD, ever made.” – Dave

“Never have I walked out of a movie more disappointed than I did after Spiderman 3. So bad… even if they do a forth film, I wouldn’t go see it. And this is after I preached that S2 was the best comic book film ever made. I now hang my head in shame.” – Greg

“Never before Spiderman 3 have I walked out of a movie so disappointed. That movie killed the franchise for me.” – Drose

“It would be difficult to size up the worst sequel without criteria. One has to be how good the first film was vs. how bad the second film was. Based on this it would be hard to beat The Matrix 2 (reloaded) for awfulness. The first movie was one of the best ever….I knew when I heard they were doing two more that we would see all the elements that people would mistakenly think made the first movie a hit. So lots of slow motion flipping. I almost couldn’t get through the first ten minutes. The first movie was a genuine retelling of the Christ story released around Easter. The second had endless Eastern blather told by people who hadn’t a clue what enlightenment is for an audience that spends more time squeezing pimples that even reading comic books….Spiderman 3 is in a different category because Spiderman 2 was a devastating waste of brain cells. Great sequels…look no further than Aliens….which made a great war movie following a great horror movie.” – Stephen Tobolowsky, actor from “Wild Hogs”

“Hey Clint,
In no particular order, but also it proves that timing is everything and waiting several years to do a follow up is not always the best choice…
Caddyshack II –
The original still ranks in the top ten of funniest comedies of all time. But when you make a follow up some eight years later not only did you not get Ted Knight, Rodney, or Chevy, actually half of Chevy Chase, you got the not funny Jackie Mason who tried to hard to be like Knight & Dangerfield rolled into one, dead pan humor of Robert Stack, and the great Dan Aykroyd playing a send up of his pal Bill. Sorry but this one did slice in the woods….and to think at one time Caddyshack III was to star Michael Jordan………
Arthur 2: On the Rocks –
Nine years later and everyone’s favorite rich drunk is back! Dudley Moore will always be known as Arthur, but this was one sequel they should have left alone……..
Crocodile Dundee in Los Angeles –
This is proof positive when you are a one hit wonder down under, I need a paycheck to pay some bills, so let me make a third entry to a series…Now it’s been awhile since Paul Hogan has been seen, How much longer before Dundee IV is in the works………
Eddie and the Cruisers II: Eddie Lives –
What else is there to say……….
Jaws 3 & Jaws the Revenge – This time the audience takes it personal………….
Poltergeist III – So cheesy, that’s the scary part…………….
Revenge of the Nerds II, III, & IV – just thinking of these gives me the shits……….
Robocop 3 – A perfect example of how to run a franshise to the ground. A hardcore R-rated original, to a soft-core R-rated sequel, to a fluff PG-13 kid friendly third……………….
and these eye slaughter entry’s
Slap Shot 2
Smokey and the Bandit III
The Sting II
Superman III & IV
Vegas Vacation” –Mr Mike

“Hey Clint, thought i would email you for the first time about the shittiest sequel of all time, Its easy really BATMAN & ROBIN! uggh it should have been perfect, Clooney looked the part, but his script, director, not to mention useless Robin ruined what could have been one of the best sequels ever, if only he had a darker movie to play with, my god,could you imagine what Burton could have done with those characters sans Robin of cause. and hottie Bat girl..” – Adie

“Undoubtedly, the crown would have to go to either “Howling 2 – Your Sister is a Werewolf” or, worse, “Howling 7 – New Moon Rising”…
Considering that the first one, directed by the great Joe Dante was an excellent well-directed and acted creature-feature shocker with wonderful special effects, it’s incredible to see just how the sequels followed the laws of diminishing returns. The first sequel is just horrible and Christopher Lee himself says it may be the worst film in his whole filmography (more than 200 films!). On the set of Gremlins 2, Lee appologised to Joe Dante for making this turd (directed by Philippe Mora). Howling 3 and 4 were less catastrophic (not very good either), number 5 was abysmal, number 6 (“The Freaks”) was surprisingly good, but the nadir of cinema was still to come with maybe one of the worst films of all time, Howling 7 – New Moon Rising, directed by, “written” by, produced by and starring Clive Turner, who also composed the music. Composed mostly of footage from Howling 4 and 5, this movie who’s supposed to be about werewolves shows only one of them at the end… dressed as a woman! And with the worst morphing effect in cinema history. And don’t get me started on the score composed of the worst country music ever…
Runners-up for worst sequels : Ocean’s 12, Batman & Robin, The Hidden 2, Basic Instinct 2, Blade : Trinity, Candyman 3 : Day of the Dead, Critters 3 & 4, The Crow : Salvation, Fortress 2, Highlander 2, 3, 4, 5, Queen of the Damned, Jaws 3 & 4, King Kong Lives, The Lawnmower Man 2, Son of the Mask, Les Rivières Pourpres 2, Superman 4, Wishmaster 3 & 4…” – Gregory

“Hey Clint,
Mark Kenfield here again. Just thought I’d chip in my two cents on the “worst sequel of all time” – for me it has to be Phantom Menace (I flat out refuse to spend the time it takes to type out the full title). As a former massive Star Wars geek, as a kid I could never afford the masses of merchandise that other kids had (I got by on a few toys and the original trilogy on VHS) but if I could of I would of. Phantom Menace ruined it all. Attack of the Clones confirmed that it was ruined, and though Clone Wars wasn’t as bad as the first two it was too little too late – I haven’t watched any of the prequels a second time.
I mean Phantom Menace was so bad, I haven’t even watched the original trilogy again since I saw it. And this is coming from a kid who used to dial up the internet to visit starwars.com daily back in 1998-99.
Now I know there are worse sequels out there in terms of the actual quality of the films themselves. But none of them have the ability to destroy the love of the original films that Phantom Menace does.” –Mark Kenfield

“Hi Clint
Alien 3 is easily the worst sequel ever made, what the hell were they thinking? The first film had one alien and very few weapons, it worked because no one had seen anything like it before.
Then Aliens came about and everyone had a connection with Ripley, this time there were hundreds of aliens and quite a few weapons, we got more connections with Newt, Hicks and even Bishop, the story was growing and people could relate to the dynamics. Then the teaser trailer for Alien3 came out and said “On earth everyone can hear your scream!” Wow, could it get any better?
Then Alien3 was shitted onto the big screen, it should have been set on earth with more connections with possible gradual dramatic loss with more aliens, more weapons but no, we get two main characters dead before the film even starts, a third character wasted and back to one alien and few weapons again with a lot of people dying that probably deserved to be dead anyway.
I hate Alien3 because there was so much potential for the films to go further, it was quite obvious where to take it, the studio wanted to save money and pander to Sigourney’s wierdness. It a shame because we as an audience lost more than the studio did.
There are some rubbish sequels out there but I think Alien3 has been the one that damaged the films that came before it and where they had to go after it, the most. I hate it!” – T800

“Hey Clint,
I have a few nominations for Worst Sequel, in no real order…
1) Exorcist II: The Heretic. Now while I do think the first film was overrated, at least it wasn’t a bore. Exorcist II is the single slowest movie I have ever seen. A real waste of a great cast and high production values on a painfully unnecessary sequel. Kitty Winn is the only really positive thing I can think of in the whole film. Where did she end up?
2) Texasville. I love The Last Picture Show, both in novel and film form. I even love George Hickenlooper’s documentary Picture This, which covered the making of Texasville. And while I haven’t read the novel (or actually, any other Larry MacMurtry books), it still pains me think how much of a disappointment Texasville turned out to be. With the restless teens of the original book/film grown into unhappy adults, there isn’t much of a story to be found. Duane’s a womaniser, Jacy’s lost a son and Sonny’s cracking up. And that’s it. For two dull hours.
3) Highlander II: The Quickening. Like so many fantasy films before and since, Highlander told a nice, self contained story with little room for continuation. Sadly, like so many fantasy films before and since, that didn’t stop the producers from trying to squeeze out some remaining bucks… As sequels go, Highlander II is one of the absolute worst. Messy, terribly written and grossly contradictory to the original concept. Even Russell Mulchahy’s director’s cut (where the immortals are no longer from space, but exiled from the past) doesn’t salvage the mess. Each subsequent sequel only muddies things up further…
4) American Psycho II: How bad is American Psycho II? Let me count the ways… 1) Starting off by literalising the ambiguous ending of the first film, by having Patrick Bateman offed by a child (!). 2) Having said child grow up to be Mila “Meg from Family Guy” Kunis. 3) Having said Mila Kunis character turn into a similar psychopath, decimating all who stand in her way of becoming Teacher’s Aide in her criminology class. 4) Casting William Shatner as a womanising criminology professor (eww!)… I could go on, but I won’t…
5) Star Trek Nemesis: I own this on DVD simply because I own all the other Trek films. It’s a terrible end to the Next Generation era, written by an alleged “fan” who litters the script with continuity errors and directed by a respected editor who should perhaps stay in the editing room. Nemesis is as tired and flabby as its cast (and seriously some in make up really should have tried to minimise Brent Spiner’s double chin) and wastes what energy it has on trying to rehash The Wrath of Khan, but the noble sacrifice here is far too blatantly telegraphed, as is the setup for a potential reversal of said noble sacrifice… Oy…
Anyway, hope the contribution helps!” – Paul Ryan

“Dude,
Here are my 2 votes for worst sequels :
#1 – The Butterfly Effect 2 – Time travel movies are my favourites, but
this one had nothing (except Erica Durance) on the 1st one, which had an
interesting storyline. Too many inconsistencies in it that could have
easily been sorted out if the film makers had of watched the 1st one. One
example being when he comes back to the present after fooling around in the
past he walks around like a zombie having no idea why things are going on,
at least in the original the changed memories flooded through his head and
subsequently caused the nose bleeds.
#2 – Jurassic Park – The Lost World – This just plain sucked, a typical
example of a studio cashing in on a good original film with a lame ass
sequel.” – Colin

“I probably have to join the bandwagon on bashing PIRATES OF THE CARRIBEAN part TWO. Where the first one was original, fun and funny, The second one is turgid, stale, embarrassing and endless. It’s so fucking long I still believe it’s going on in the theatre I walked out of. I won’t be seeing the third one. Not they need my money.” – Richard Shepard, director of “The Matador”

So there you have it. There’s a few reponses – had hundreds of emails, so I can’t run them all – all talking about the shittiest sequels of all time.

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